PREAMBLE

Conscious of their responsibility before God and the people, animated by the resolve to serve the peace of the world as an equal member in a United Europe, the German people, by virtue of their constituent power, adopted this Basic Law.

The Germans in the Länder of Baden-Würtemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thüringen have completed in free self-determination the unity and freedom of Germany. This Basic Law is thus valid for the entire German people.

I. BASIC RIGHTS

Article 1 (Protection of human dignity)

• (1) The dignity of man is inviolable. To respect and protect it is the duty of all state authority.
  
  (2) The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable rights as the basis of every community, of peace and of justice in the world.
  
  (3) The following basic rights bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly enforceable law.

Article 2 (Rights of liberty)

• (1) Everyone has the right to the free development of his personality in so far as he does not violate the rights of others or offend against the constitutional order or the moral code.
  
  (2) Everyone has the right to life and to inviolability of his person. The liberty of the individual is inviolable. These rights may only be encroached on pursuant to a law.

Article 3 (Equality before the law)

• (1) All persons are equal before the law.
  
  (2) Men and women have equal rights.
  
  (3) No-one may be prejudiced or favoured because of his sex, his parentage, his race, his language, his homeland and origin, his faith, or his religious or political opinions.

Article 4 (Freedom of faith and creed)

• (1) Freedom of faith, of conscience, and freedom of religious or ideological creed are inviolable.
  
  (2) The undisturbed practice of religion is guaranteed.
  
  (3) No-one may be compelled against his conscience to render war service involving the use of arms. Details shall be regulated by a Federal law.

Article 5 (Freedom of expression)

• (1) Everyone has the right freely to express and disseminate his opinion by speech, writing and pricture and freely to inform himself from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films are guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.
  
  (2) These rights are limited by the provisions of the general laws, the provisions of law for the protection of youth, and by the right of personal honour.
  
  (3) Art and science, research and teaching, are free. Freedom of teaching does not release [one] from loyalty to the constitution.

Article 6 (Marriage, Family, Illegitimate children)

• (1) Marriage and family enjoy the special protection of the state.
  
  (2) The care and upbringing of children is a natural right of, and a duty primarily incumbent on, the parents. The national community watches over their endeavours.
  
  (3) Children may not be separated from their families against the will of the persons entitled to bring them up, except pursuant to a law, if those so entitled fail or the children are otherwise threatened with neglect.
  
  (4) Every mother is entitled to the protection and care of the community.
  
  (5) Illegitimate children shall be provided by legislation wiht the same opportunities for their physical and spiritual development and their place in society as are enjoyed by legitimate children.
  
  

Article 7 (Education)

• (1) The entire educational system stands under the supervision of the state.
  
  (2) The persons entitled to bring up a child have the right to decide whether it shall receive religious instruction.
  
  (3) Religious instruction shall form part of the ordinary curriculum in state and municipal schools, except in secular schools. Without prejudice to the state's right of supervision, religious instruction shall be givin in accordance with the tenets of the religious communities. No teacher may be obliged against his will to give religious instruction.
  
  (4) The right to establish private schools is guaranteed. Private schools, as a substitute for state or municipal schools, shall require the approval of the state and shall be subject to the laws of the Länder. Such approval must be given if private schools are not inferior to the state or municipal schools in their educational aims, their facilities and the professional training of their teaching staff, and if segregation of pupils according to the means of the parents is not promoted thereby. Approval must be withheld if the economic and legal position of the teaching staff is not sufficiently assured.
  
  (5) A private elementary school is to be permitted only if the education authority finds that it serves a special pedagogic interest, or if, on the application of persons entitled to bring up children, it is to be established as an inter-denominational or denominational or ideological school of this type that does not exist in the commune.
  
  (6) Preparatory schools remain abolished.

Article 8 (Freedom of assembly)

• (1) All Germans have the right to assemble peaceably and unarmed without prior notification or permission.
  
  (2) With regard to open-air meetings this right may be restricted by or pursuant to a law.

Article 9 (Freedom of association)

• (1) All Germans have the right to form associations and societies.
  
  (2) Associations, the purposes or activities of which conflict with criminal laws or which are directed against the constitutional order or the concept of international understanding are prohibited.
  
  (3) The right to form assiciations to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions is guaranteed to everyone and to all trades, occupations and professions. Agreements which restrict or seek to impair this right are null and void. Measures taken pursuant to Article 12a, to paragraphs 2 and 3 or Article 35, to paragraph 4 of Article 87a, or to Article 91 may not be directed against any industrial conflicts engaged in by associations within the meaning of the first sentence of this paragraph, to improve working and economic conditions.

Article 10 (Privacy of posts and telecommunications)

• (1) Privacy of posts and telecommunications is be inviolable.
  
  (2) This righ may only be restricted pursuant to a law. Such a law may lay down that the person affected shall not be informed of any such restriction if it serves to protect the free democratic basic order or the existence or security of the Federation or a Land, and that recourse to the courts shall be replaced by a review of the case by bodies and auxiliary bodies appointed by Parliament.

Article 11 (Freedom of movement)

• (1) All Germans enjoy freedom of movement througout the Federal territory.
  
  (2) This right may be restricted only by or pursuant to a law and only in cases in which an adequate basis of existence is lacking and special burdens would arise to the community as a result thereof, or in which such restriction is necessary to avert an imminent danger to the existance or the free democratic basic order of the Federation or a Land, to combat the danger of epidemics, to deal with natural disasters or particularly grave accidents, to protect young people from neglect or to prevent crime.

Article 12 (Right to choose trade, occupation or profession)

• (1) All Germans have the right freely to choose their trade, occupation, or profession, their place of work and their place of training. The practice of trades, occupations, and professions may be regulated by or pursuant to a law.
  
  (2) No specific occupation may be imposed on any person except within the framework of a traditional compulsory public service that applies generally and equally to all.
  
  (3) Forced labour may be imposed only on persons deprived of their liberty by court sentence.

Article 12a (Liability to military and other service)

• (1) Men who have attained the age of eighteen years may be reqired to serve in the Armed Forces, in the Federal Border Guard, or in a Civil Defence organization.
  
  (2) A person who refuses, on grounds of conscience, to render war service involving the use of arms may be required to render a substitute service. The duration of such substitute service shall not exceed the duration of military service. Details shall be regulated by a law which shall not interfere with the freedom of conscience and must also provide for the possibility of a substitute service not connected with units of the Armed Forces or of the Federal Border Guard.
  
  (3) Persons liable to military service who are not required to render service pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of this Article may, when a state of defence exists, be assigned by or pursuant to a law to specific occupations involving civilian services for defence purposes, including the protection of the civilian population; it is not, however, permissible to assign persons to an occupation subject to public law except for the purpose of discharging police functions or such other functions of public administration as can only be discharged by persons employed under public law. Persons may be assigned to occupations - as referred to in the first sentence of this paragraph - with the armed forces, including the supplying and servicing of the latter, or with public administrative authorities; assignments to occupations connected with supplying and servicing the civilian population are not permissible except in order to meet their vital requirements or to guarantee their safety.
  
  (4) If, while a state of defence exists, civilian service requirements in the civilian public health and medical systems or in the stationary military hospital organization cannot be met on a voluntary basis, women between eighteen and fifty-five years of age may be assigned to such services by or pursuant to a law. They may on no account render service involving the use of arms.
  
  (5) During the time prior to the existence of any such state of defence, assignments under paragraph (3) of this Article may be effected only if the requirements of paragraph (1) of Article 80a are satisfied. It is admissible to require persons by or pursuant to a law to attend training courses in order to prepare them for the performance of such services in accordance with paragraph (3) of this Article as presuppose special knowledge or skills. To this extent, the first sentence of this paragraph does not apply.
  
  (6) If, while a state of defence exists, the labour requirements for the purposes referre to in the second sentence of paragraph (3) of this Article cannot be met on a voluntary basis, the right of a German to give up the practice of his trade or occupation of profession, or his place of work, may be restricted by or pursuant to a law in order to meet these requirements. Correspondingly, the first sentence of paragraph (5) of the Article applies prior to the existence of a state of defence.

Article 13 (Inviolability of the home)

• (1) The home is inviolable.
  
  (2) Searches may be ordered onlyb a judge or, in the event of danger in delay, by other organs as provided by law, and may be carried out only in the form prescribed by law.
  
  (3) In all other respects, this inviolability may not be encroached upon or restricted except to avert a common danger or a mortal danger to individuals, or, pursuant to a law, to prevent imminent danger to public safety and order, especially to alleviate the housing shortage, to combat the danger of epidemics, or to protect endangered juveniles.

Article 14 (Property, Right of inheritance, Expropriation)

• (1) Property and the right of inheritance are guaranteed. Their content and limits shall be determined by the laws.
  
  (2) Property imposes duties. Its use should also serve the public good.
  
  (3) Expropriation is permitted only in the public good. It may be effected only by or pursuant to a law which shall provide for the nature and extent of compensation. Such compensation shall be determined by establishing an equitable balance between the public interest and the interests of those affected. In case of dispute regarding the amount of compensation, recourse may be had to the ordinary courts.

Article 15 (Socialization)

• Land, natural resources and means of production may for the purpose of socialization be transferred to public ownership or other forms of publicly controlled economy by a law which shall provide for the nature and extent of compensation. In respect of such compensation, the third and fourth sentences of paragraph (3) of Article 14 shall apply correspondingly.

Article 16 (Deprivation of citizenship, Extradition, Right of asylum)

• (1) No-one may be deprived of his German citizenship. Loss of citizenship may arise only pususant to a law, and against the will of the person affected only if such person does not thereby become stateless.
  
  (2) No German may be extradited to a foreign country. Persons persecuted on political grounds enjoy the right of asylum.

Article 17 (Right of petition)

• Everyone has the right individually of jointly with others to address written requiests or complaints to the appropriate agencies and to parliamentary bodies.

Article 17a (Restriction of basic rights for members of the armed forces)

• (1) Laws concerning military service and substitute service may, by provisions applying to members of the armed forces and to substitute services during their period of military or substitute service, restrict the basic right freely to express and to disseminate opinions by speech, writing and pictures (first half-sentence of paragraph (1) of Article 5), the basic right of assembly (Article 8), and the right of petition (Article 17) insofar as this right permits the submission of requests or complaints jointly with others.
  
  (2) Laws for defence purposes including the protection of the civilian population may provide for the restriction of the basic rights of freedom of movement (Article 11) and inviolability of the home (Article 13).

Article 18 (Forfeiture of basic rights)

• Whoever abuses freedom of expression of opinion, in particular freedom of the press (paragraph (1) of Article 5), freedom of teaching (paragraph (3) of Article 5), freedom of assembly (Article 8), freedom of association (Article 9), privacy of posts and telecommunications (Article 10), property (Article 14), or the right of assylum (paragraph (2) of Article 16) in order to combat the free democratic basic order, shall forfeit these basic rights. Such forfeiture and the extent thereof shall be pronounced by the Federal Constitutional Court.

Article 19 (Restriction of basic rights)

• (1) Insofar as a basic right may, under this Basic Law, be restricted by or pursuant to a law, such law must apply generally and not solely to an individual case. Furthermore, such law must name the basic right, indicating the Article concerned.
  
  (2) In no case may the essential content of a basic right be encroached upon.
  
  (3) The basic rights shall apply also to domestic judicial persons to the extent that the nature of such rights permits.
  
  (4) Should any person's right be violated by public authority, recourse to the court shall be open to him If jurisdiction is not specified, recourse shall be to ordinary courts. The second sentence of paragraph (2) of Article 10 shall not be affected by the provisions of this paragraph.

NOTE. The remaining sections of the Basic Law (not transcribed here) cover the following topics:

II. THE FEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUENT STATES (LÄNDER)

III. THE FEDERAL PARLIAMENT (BUNDESTAG)

IV. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTITUENT STATES (BUNDESRAT)

V. THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT

VI. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

VII. LEGISLATIVE POWERS OF THE FEDERATION

VIII. THE EXECUTION OF FEDERAL LAWS AND THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION

IX. THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

X. FINANCE

XI. TRANSITIONAL AND CONCLUDING PROVISIONS